Earlier this year, Deshauna Barber, 26, made history when she became the first woman serving in the U.S. military to be crowned Miss USA. Now, just in time for Veteran’s Day, Barber turns the spotlight on military families when on November 4 she christens Carnival Vista—Carnival Cruise Line’s newest and biggest cruise ship—during a ceremony in New York City which kicks off an overnight gala event celebrating Operation Homefront.

The Carnival Vista cruises at sea. The largest and most innovative cruise vessel in Carnival Cruise Line's fleet, Carnival Vista measures 133,500 tons, 1,055 feet long and has a guest capacity of almost 4,000 passengers. (Carnival Cruise Line)

“The whole idea of Operation Homefront is to provide support and assistance and to show appreciation for military families,” says Barber. “There will be more than 700 military families at the event and they’ll be able to enjoy all the amenities on the ship and then later see Carrie Underwood in concert. It’s going to be amazing.”

Barber, who when she’s not performing her duties as Miss USA, serves as a logistics commander of the 988 Quarter Master detachment out of Rockville, Maryland, recently talked to Parade about growing up in a military family, her unexpected rise to beauty pageant fame and being named “godmother” of a really big (133,500-ton) cruise ship.

You grew up in a military family. Was it a given that you would follow that path?

Oh, yes. My siblings and I knew very quickly that we would be serving the Army in some capacity. They went the NCO route—the Non-Commissioned Officer route—so they entered right after high school. I joined the military through my alma mater, Virginia State University, and went through our Reserve Officers’ Training Corps (ROTC) program to commission as an officer.

Tell us how it works when someone gets involved with ROTC.

At 17 years old, when I went to college I made a commitment to the Army by signing up for a military scholarship. I went through a four-and-a-half-year ROTC process. That’s where you’re pretty much playing the role of a soldier but balancing college at the same time.

You learn a lot of really awesome things. You go through a good amount of training each summer and you pretty much live a very Army lifestyle by going to PT every morning (physical training), by going to the range, (a gun range) and going through squad six, (squad tactical training). You have to do all these things every day, all week.

You don’t get to have that full college experience because you’re mostly being a soldier. But then, after four and a half years you are commissioned as an officer, and you get to pick whatever branch you want. I chose Quarter Master, which is a logistics branch.

What do you like most about being a soldier?

I definitely like the discipline. I think it gives you a chance to be thrown into somewhat of a difficult environment, where you really have to learn to communicate. You have to learn to be assertive and learn all these very, very important things to be a successful Army officer.

What are you most looking forward to while serving as “godmother” to the ship during the naming ceremony for Carnival Vista?

Well, Carrie Underwood for sure! But also I’m going to have an opportunity to really talk about my experience in the Army—I’ve lived in seven different states—and to maybe inspire some of the younger people that are part of the military families to maybe take my same route.

I look forward to being able to tell them I know what you’re going through [with parents being deployed overseas] but please understand that what your parents are doing is extremely important and essential to the country and that we appreciate your sacrifices.

During the Miss USA pageant, you spoke about women in the military. Do you feel strongly about this issue?

I do feel very strongly. I think it’s important to have gender equality in this country. The military really took the last step to be able to accomplish that by integrating all the branches, so I definitely think that it’s important to know that gender is not a limitation when it comes to the requirements of military training and that you have to give everyone an equal opportunity.

How did you initially get involved with the Miss USA pageant?

I’ve been competing in pageants for seven years now. I was actually working in Target one day and someone approached me as I was folding clothes. This lady stared at me for about 20 minutes, and then approached me. She gave me the third degree asking, “Do you have any kids, are you married, were you born here?”

At first I was very offended by all her questions but she eventually said, “I think you’re beautiful. I think you could be the next Miss Universe.” At the time I was 19 years old. I hadn’t watched a pageant a day in my life. The closest I’ve gotten to pageants was watching Miss Congeniality with Sandra Bullock.

Eventually she convinced me to enter into my first pageant three months later, and I fell in love with it. Being from a military family we didn’t really get to wear the big dresses. I didn’t really have a girly life. So pageants gave me a chance to feel womanly and feminine, elegant and strong.

Why is Veterans Day such an important day in our country?

It’s important because it gives the veterans and even active duty soldiers and soldiers still serving an opportunity to really know that the world absolutely appreciates them. The military only represents one percent of the population in this country. It’s a small percentage of people that are impacted in terms of actively serving so this gives us all a chance to know that the country appreciates all the sacrifices.